Which Store Type is Best for Your eBay Business?

All eBay Stores are on a level playing field. All your items are equally searchable on eBay, so you can be right up there with the big guys and compete. The first cost differential is the type of store you want to open.

Even the basic ($19.95) eBay Store gives you a lot of options; higher level stores build on these. Here are some highlights:

Custom URL (web address): Your eBay Store will have its own Internet address that you can use in links in promotional material — even to promote your store on the Internet.

Store search: When customers visit your eBay Store, they will be able to search within your listings for their desired item — with your own personal search engine.

Selling Manager: This is the super eBay software that replaces your All Selling page in my eBay. If you have a Premium-level eBay Store, you get Selling Manager Pro for free, the $15.99 a month fee is waived. Basic eBay Stores get Selling Manager as part of the package.

Cross-Promotion boxes: By editing the promotion boxes, you can highlight which items are displayed on your Item, Bid Confirm, and Purchase Confirm pages.

Three hundred store categories: You can sell (say) sporting goods in one category, women’s fashion in another, fine art in one more…you have up to 300 custom categories for your varied merchandise.

Fifteen custom pages: You can use custom pages to customize the look of your eBay Store, make different landing pages, list your store policies, and make the store your own.

Markdown Manager: Hold a sale in your store! Select items to discount for a period of time and offer discounted pricing. You can run sales on up to 250 listings a day in a Basic Store and Anchor stores up to 5,000.

Vacation hold: Ever wish you could make your listings temporarily unavailable, or let your customers know you’ll be out of town? This great feature allows you to do just that.

Stores To Go: Get a widget to share on your blog or social network that highlights your eBay items.

Create Promotional Flyers: Online tool to help you design a flyer to promote other items and include in your shipments.

Traffic Reports: Page Views, Daily Unique Visitors, referring domains (are other websites pointing to your listings?), most popular pages, and more are available for all store owners. Premium and Anchor eBay Stores get even more in-depth data.

Sales Reports Plus: You’ll have access to monthly in depth reports on your sales. And you’ll get an e-mail from eBay each month to remind you to check them out.

eBay Stores are available on three levels:

Basic Store: For $19.95 a month ($15.95 when paid annually), you get your own eBay Store with all the benefits. A Basic Store entitles you to 150 free listings (auction or fixed-price) a month. If you use all your free listings, each auction will cost $.25 and fixed price will be $.20 (Media, Books, DVDs, movies. music and video games $.05).

Premium Store: You get all the benefits of a Basic Store, plus more advanced sales and traffic reports. Your first 500 listings are free. After that, auctions will run $.15 and fixed-price listings, $.10.This type of Store will set you back $59.95 per month, or $49.95 when you pay the bill annually.

Anchor Store: This is a top-of-the-line Store on eBay. For as low as $179.95 a month (when you pay annually) or $199.95 a month (month by month), you may list up to 2,500 items for fees (additional auctions are $.10, fixed-price listings are $.05).

There is no limit to the number of items you put up for sale in the Basic Store. An Anchor Store can have as few or as many items as the Basic Store. Many high-level Power and Top Rated Sellers find that the Basic eBay Store fulfills their needs.

When people visit your eBay Store, they have no way of knowing whether you have a Basic, Featured, or Anchor Store. The design of your Store is up to you — you can make it as fancy as you want.